Team Razer
Team Razer is a team of roboteers that entered the world-famous Razer in Series 2 through 6 and both Extremes of Robot Wars, returning for the rebooted series. Despite performing poorly in its first three main series appearances, Razer excelled in the side events, and racked up numerous trophies, most notably winning two World Championships. In Series 5, Razer finally hit its stride and won the domestic title. It followed that up with another strong performance in Series 6, finishing as runner-up. The team returned in 2016, with new team members Gillie Lewis and Darcie Lewis in place of Vincent Blood, retiring after this appearance. Ian Lewis also entered Razzler into the Antweight Championship of Extreme 1, essentially a converted Razer pullback toy. The Team Ian Lewis and Simon Scott were industrial designers who had gone to school together. After seeing the first series of Robot Wars, they were inspired to make their own robot. They experimented with several different types of weapons before ultimately deciding on the hydraulic crusher. Thus, Razer was born. Interestingly, across the series, Scott and Lewis shared captain roles. In Series 3, the team was joined by the brother of Ian's fiancee, Vincent Blood. Blood was primarily responsible for constructing and maintaining the team's website, but he helped out on the robot as well. Team Razer were not involved in the construction of Widow's Revenge, though had links to its team. The Widow's Revenge team all pretended to be the wives of the Razer team, whilst Jonathan Pearce incorrectly stated that the "Robot Widows" were the wives of Team Razer, and that Team Razer had helped build the machine, but this is not entirely true. Of the original team members, Team Captain Gillie Blood was the fiancee of Ian Lewis (they have since married, and Gillie is now known as Gillie Blood Lewis), and the sister of Vinnie Blood. The other two team members were not linked to Team Razer, but Emily Cathcart, the girlfriend of Vinnie Blood, joined the team when Jenny Smith fell ill. Their anti-male statements were directed towards all married roboteers, not just Ian, Simon, and Vincent. In Extreme 2, Razer fought Tornado (armed with its anti-crusher web) in the semi-final of the European Championship. During the match, Razer picked up Tornado, and began smoking; its motors had burned out. The two robots remained hooked together for well over the 30-second holding limit, before cease was called. The judges ruled in favour of Razer, however Simon and Vincent believed the decision to be unfair, as Razer was clearly immobile, and Tornado should have been freed by the Refbot. Ian refused to go along with the decision, believing competitors did not have the right to overturn judges' decisions, and when his teammates tried to explain that they were 2-1 in favour of conceding the match, Ian told Vincent that his vote didn't count, as he didn't help build the machine. Ian eventually relented and apologised for his out-of-line remark, but he still refused to be on camera when the team handed over the victory to Tornado. Over the months prior, Vincent had been indecisive about remaining on the Razer team, and Ian's behaviour towards this matter was the last straw. He announced his resignation soon afterwards, precipitating in Razer's retirement from Robot Wars, with the team not entering Series 7. When the team returned to Robot Wars in Series 8, Gillian Lewis joined husband Ian on the team, as well as their daughter, Darcie Lewis, who is a model, alongside Simon Scott. Razer fell in the first round, although Team Razer featured in a short video released by the BBC, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p043gwqg How to build a Robot Wars robot]. Robogeddon In 2002, Ian Lewis and Simon Scott, what remained of Team Razer, came together with Andrew Cotterell of Team Ming to fom a robot building/hiring company called Robogeddon. The company manufactured a fleet of robot kits (known by them as RCVs). When fully constructed, each of these RCVs are 80 kg box-wedge shaped with four-wheel drive and a full body bumper to absorb shocks, it is also armed with a flipping arm. These robot kits cost £1825, but the company can also organise events for people, setting up a temporary arena with shelter and bringing some pre-built Robogeddon units for people to control. Cotterell chose to take two pre-built units, modify them and enter them for the seventh series of Robot Wars (Ming Dienasty and Zorro) to publicise the company. Robots RazerSeries2HeadOn.jpg|Razer (Series 2) Razer1.JPG|Razer (Series 2, side on) Razer.jpg|Razer (Series 3) Razer s4 official image.jpg|Razer (Series 4) Ian Lewis and Razzler.JPG|Razzler (Extreme 1) Razer EXT.png|Razer (Extreme 1) RazerSeries5.jpg|Razer (Series 5) Razer S6.png|Razer (Series 6) Razer extreme 2 official image.jpg|Razer (Extreme 2) Razer 2016.jpg|Razer (Series 8) Wins/Losses *Wins: 41 *Losses: 8 Series Record Outside Robot Wars The team also entered several seasons of BattleBots. They entered the untelevised 1999 event and the pay-per-view 2000 event with Razer, winning the Gigabot/Heavyweight Rumble in the latter. They also entered Season 5.0 (originally intended for Season 3.0 and 4.0) with Warhead, a silver scorpion-like design with a petrol-driven spinning dome for a weapon, which could be angled, as well as hydraulic arms for self-righting, and a movable scorpion tail at the back. This robot had a good degree of success, defeating five opponents including the favoured Nightmare and The Matador, before ultimately losing out on a Judges' decision to OverKill. For the 2015 BattleBots reboot on ABC, Team Razer returned, this time with Gillie Blood Lewis and James Cooper as team members, with an upgraded Warhead, with a notable change being the replacement of the dome's internal combustion engine with an electric motor. However, the team did not do as well in this season, losing their first match to the eventual champion Bite Force on a unanimous Judges' decision. Warhead was given a wild card position in the last 16, but lost again to Stinger: The Killer Bee on another Judges' decision after getting flipped over. However, on account of its unique design and engineering, it was voted for the Best Design Award by its fellow competitors, which it won. Warhead returned for the 2016 series of BattleBots, now sporting an interchangeable dinosaur head jaw weapon, interchangeable with the disc, and dual flamethrowers. Gillie Blood Lewis did not return, while James Cooper competed with Cobalt, and James Vandervelden joined Team Razer. Warhead used its jaw to crush Rob Knight's humanoid robot Obwalden Overlord, before setting it on fire. Warhead faced BattleBots veterans Complete Control in the second round, and switched to its spinning disc. Warhead won in spectacular fashion, tearing a huge gash in Complete Control, setting the entire robot on fire through another impact, and dealt the finishing blow by moving on its head through the gyroscopic forces of its disc. In the Round of 16, Warhead faced promising newcomer Minotaur. Here, it had its disc torn off after a few hits and continued to take blows from Minotaur's drum until it was knocked onto its side with both side panels ripped away and its side wings not working, ending Warhead's run. Warhead 1.jpg|Warhead at BattleBots in 2018 Warhead 2.jpg|Warhead standing on its disc Warhead 3.jpg|Warhead with its team in 2018 Warhead 4.jpg|Ian Lewis at BattleBots in 2018 A relatively unchanged Warhead also competed in the third season of the BattleBots reboot, aired on Science Channel and Discovery Channel, with the same team and interchangeable weapons. After only debuting ten episodes into the season, Warhead won its first battle against Sharkoprion on a Judges' decision after using its dinosaur jaw to tear away a tyre from its opponent. Warhead then won its second battle on a Judges' decision, using the same weapon setup to defeat Chomp by holding it in place and constantly using its flamethrower. Warhead used its spinning disc in battle with Warrior Dragon, but split the weapon apart in contact with the arena wall - nevertheless, Warhead continued to use its damaged disc and flamethrowers to win a split Judges' decision, after Warrior Dragon lost mobility in the dying seconds. In its final qualifying match, Warhead had no choice but to use its dinosaur head, which offered the robot no self-righting mechanism on top, and as a result it was defeated by Whiplash after being overturned. Despite its successful record of 3-1 in the main competition, Warhead narrowly missed out on the Top 16, on the grounds that its most effective weapon was broken beyond repair. Outside of the main competition, Warhead represented the United Kingdom in the USA vs The World special, and defeated Blacksmith on a split decision, using its dinosaur head. Although Team Razer did not enter the spin-off show Techno Games, Simon Scott worked on the show as a pit reporter in the 2002 and 2003 series, where he was referred to as a "Pit Pundit". Simon would take a close look at robots, describing their components and how the robots worked. He praised the designs or workings he thought were best, and enthusiastically commented on his favourites for each event, predicting who he thought would win and why. ]] ]] In the Chinese TV show King of Bots, Ian Lewis also appeared as one of the Judges. His achievements with Razer were acknowledged in his introduction, and Ian Lewis notably had the final call in a split decision between Thunder and Lightning and Steel God of War. Featherweight versions of Razer and Warhead, called Venom and Predator respectively, were created by Team Robo Challenge and made various appearances at live events. Trivia *Simon Scott manufactured the spinning drum used by Concussion in Series 9. *Team Razer holds the rare honour of having two different robots mentioned in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame - Razer (inducted in 2003) and their BattleBots entry, Warhead (made an Honorable Mention in 2003).http://runamok.tech/hall_of_fame.html Currently, the only other UK team with this achievement is Team Hurtz. Honours References External Links *Team Razer website (archived) Category:Team Pages Category:Competitors in 5 Wars Category:Teams that competed in BattleBots Category:Teams to compete in both eras of Robot Wars